A fuel injection valve that can be actuated electromagnetically, wherein an armature works in conjunction with a magnet coil that can be electrically energized so as to cause electromagnetic actuation, and the lift of the armature is transferred to a valve closing element via a valve needle, is described in German Published Patent Application No. 33 14 899. The valve closing element interacts with a valve seat. The armature is not rigidly attached to the valve needle, but rather is arranged so that it can be moved axially relative to the valve needle. A first return spring acts upon the valve needle in the direction of closing and therefore keeps the fuel injection valve closed when no current is being applied to the magnet coil and the magnet coil is thus in its nonenergized state. A second return spring acts upon the armature in the direction of lift in such a way that in its inoperative position the armature is in contact with a first stop surface arranged on the valve needle. When the magnet coil is energized, the armature is pulled in the direction of lift and carries the valve needle with it via the first stop surface. When the current energizing the magnet coil is turned off, the valve needle is accelerated into its closed position by the first return spring and carries the armature with it via the aforementioned stop surface. As soon as the valve closing element impacts the valve seat, the needle valve's closing movement ends abruptly. The armature, which is not rigidly attached to the valve needle, continues to move in the direction opposite to the lift, and this movement is absorbed by the second return spring, i.e., the armature pushes against the second return spring, which has a significantly smaller spring constant than the first return spring. The second return spring once again accelerates the armature in the direction of lift. If the armature impacts the stop surface of the valve needle, the valve closing element, which is attached to the valve needle, is lifted off the valve seat again for a short time and thus opens the fuel injection valve for a short time. Thus the impact dampening described in German Published Patent Application No. 33 14 899 is incomplete. In addition, the disadvantage of a conventional fuel injection valve in which the armature is rigidly attached to the valve needle, and of the fuel injection valve described in German Published Patent Application No. 33 14 899, is that the opening lift of the valve needle takes effect as soon as the magnetic force applied to the armature by the magnet coil exceeds the sum of the forces in the direction of closing, i.e., the closing force of the spring and the hydraulic forces of the fuel, which is under pressure. This is a disadvantage in that when the current energizing the magnet coil is turned on the magnetic force does not immediately reach its final value due to the self-induction of the magnet coil and the eddy currents that arise. The valve needle and the valve closing element are therefore accelerated by a reduced force when the opening lift begins. As a result, the opening time is unsatisfactory for certain applications.
In this connection, U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,776 proposes that the armature not be rigidly attached to the valve needle but rather that a certain amount of axial motion tolerance between the armature and the valve needle be provided. However, in this fuel injection valve, the axial position of the armature in the inoperative position is not defined, and thus with the fuel injection valve described in this patent the response time when the energizing current is turned on is undefined.